Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Capitals Re-Sign Bradley

Per the team:

ARLINGTON, VA., – The Washington Capitals have re-signed right wing Matt Bradley to a three-year contract, vice president and general manager George McPhee announced today. In keeping with club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Bradley, 29, appeared in 77 games last season for the Capitals, recording 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in his third year with the team. Bradley also added two assists in seven playoff games against Philadelphia. He finished the year fourth on the team with 74 penalty minutes, fifth with 126 hits and eighth with a career-high 111 shots on goal.

A 6'3", 210-pound native of Stittsville, Ontario, Bradley was selected by San Jose in the fourth round of the 1996 NHL Entry Draft, 102nd overall. In his seven NHL seasons, he has played for San Jose, Pittsburgh and Washington totaling 411 games. Bradley has 95 career points (37 goals and 58 assists) and 359 penalty minutes. He was signed by Washington as a free agent on Aug. 18, 2005.

The cap must be going beyond $53M, right? I mean, that's the only possible explanation. If I were TEB, that's what I'd be asking GMGM: Whether a new cap estimate has been distributed to GMs (and agents, I suppose) since February.

Quick question- if Bradley at 7 goals and 18 points is worth $1 million a year, what is Laich at 21goals and 37 points worth? Good thing the cap is going up next season. We're gong to need every penny of it.

Slap Shots has learned that the Players Association - with input on the number from the NHL - projects revenues to reach $2.575B this season, an 11.1-percent increase over the 2006-07 Hockey Related Revenue (HRR) of $2.318B. The cap should increase at a slightly higher rate because the players' share of the gross increases from 55.5 percent to 56.333 percent at the $2.5B revenue threshold. It assumes the players will once again exercise their option to approve a five-percent inflation bump.

Thus the PA estimates that the cap will be approximately $56.3M - give or take in concert with the final HRR number that will be determined by playoff revenues - next season, an increase of $6M from this year.

$1 million a season isn't too much for a fairly reliable grinding type lower winger. But the Caps definitely need Bradley to play very hard every night and earn every dollar of it.

I'm a bit surprised about the term moreso than the $$. One would think the Caps would push for 1 or 2 years, but if they were willing to give Bradley three it shows that they believe he is a real piece of this team moving forward.

@ Hooks: I see it as either/or with regards to the length of the deal and the cost. $1m for a year or two? Maybe a little expensive, but a short enough term that it doesn't hurt. Three years at $750k? Maybe a little long, but not at too bad a price.

The combination is a little off-putting, though. Here's a guy getting a 40+ percent raise and a longish deal. Is that extra $250k or so per year going to kill the team's cap? Of course not. But as b.orr4 noted, what does it mean for other deals on up the ladder?

Also, I think it's a sign that a) Brashear is done after this year and b) the Caps are fine going enforcer-less (the Detroit model), with Brads being as close as they'll come to one up front. But maybe I'm wrong about those two things - I was about the dollars in this deal.

JP: I see your point about the salary ladder, but it's irrelevant to compare an impending UFA (like Bradley) to a RFA such as Laich. Though in this day and age where the line of "restricted" is blurring, perhaps not so much.

But to secure a veteran player that's feisty like you mention and fills an important niche, it's not the end of the world, like you mentioned.

I'm sure GMGM and the front office has some rough idea about how to fit the pieces of the puzzle in place, and obviously by signing Bradley a month before free agency they must have felt pretty comfortable with the terms. As mentioned here, if something had to give with this signing, it's probably Matt Cooke.

To justify the term, consider the multi-year perspective: Clymer and Brash are coming off the books after next season, to the tune of $2.083 million in cap space. That's a lot of free money coming from the 4th line. We can afford to reward guys like Bradley, Gordon, and Steckel. A 300k raise for Bradley, and similar raises for Gordon this year and Steckel next year and we still gain $1 million in cap space, at a net loss of one hockeyfights.com highlight reel.

@ Hooks: While I agree that "it's irrelevant to compare an impending UFA (like Bradley) to a RFA such as Laich" to an extent, it's not irrelevant from a team salary structure standpoint (i.e. everyone has to be comfortable with what he makes relative to everyone else, or shit starts to fall apart. This is part of the reason the Sabres were seen as "cheap" - b/c they wouldn't sacrifice chemistry to pay a guy like JP Dumont more than a Chris Drury).

This is the kind of signing that good/smart teams don't make. Bradley's skill set (gritty checker with good speed, passable hands and a willingness to fight)is available for the league minimum almost every year. At the most, these types of players should make around $500k. Signing Brads to this contract means that the Caps won't use a younger/cheaper option. Given that the roster is stacked with top-end (read: expensive) talent, the Caps can't afford to waste cap space by overpaying 3rd and 4th liners. Especially ones without much offensive upside. Since the marginal cap hit is only $500k (above an arbitrary $500k-replacement level), this isn't crippling. Looked at in the context of the Brashear, Clymer and Erskine contracts, it shows that the team WAY overvalues lower-end role players. At least when a younger/cheaper/better player beats Bradley out of training camp and he ends up playing for Hershey (a la Clymer), he won't count against the cap.

As a quick addendum, this mentality of this move strikes me as a holdover from the rebuild. Back then, the Caps were so desperate for warm bodies that overpaying for guys like Clymer, Erskine and Bradley made sense. Now, not so much.

I don't think either the length or dollar amount are too much inherently; if you look around the league role players who can bring a physical edge and kill penalties are making comparable salaries: Aarom Asham was at 700k this season (and the cap is going up by ~20%), Travis Moen is under contract for 925k next year and Steve Begin is slated to make 1.3 million.

The other thing is that the while the Caps have good prospect depth, the players in the farm system are just that, prospects. Some won't pan out or will get hurt and even those that do will take a couple years.

I think that 1 million a year is a fair salary given that the cap is going to be at 56 million next year and probably go up each year after that. The only way it becomes an issue is if the team runs in to financial trouble because of it - bringing Bradley back at a million per is fine by me, but to have to sacrifice in other areas to keep him on the squad doesn't make sense.

The checking line showed some chemistry in the playoffs, it'll be nice to see them back together. Bradley's no look pass to Steckel was the non-AO highlight of the season. If it were for $900K per maybe it would be a little more popular but 100K is less than 0.2% of the cap. This probably means GMGM doesn't think Bourque is ready.